Virgin America... Wha?

Tamar here again. Jon's off studying for his final final exam ever, but will post shortly thereafter.

Way, way back in 1995, my family and I traveled to Europe to attend my cousin Jon's Bar Mitzvah. Jon's family was living in London at the time, but had been living in Paris for a while prior (a lot of my dad's side of the family lives in/around Paris) so they held the Bar Mitzvah in France. My family decided to go to the festivities and then Eurostar it over to London to spend some more time with the fam.

And among the top 5 memories of the trip? Flying home on Virgin Atlantic. I kid you not - my brothers and I talked about this epic flight home for years to come. No crazy Snakes on the Plane or anything like that. Just that they had goody bags (yes, this was before everything was "no frills") and nice flight attendants and everything was so chic.

Since then, I've been quite disillusioned with air travel. Air Canada + Me = Water + Oil. I think that Air Canada sees my name on the passenger's list and then proceeds to cancel that flight. Maybe not that bad. But I have been rather unlucky when it's come to flying to Toronto in December. Air Canada definitely has the most flights from the States to Toronto, but I just get testy with the airline.

But wait! What did I just learn yesterday? Virgin America is expanding service to Toronto. Just in time for our wedding! Starting in June, you can book non-stop flights from LAX to YYZ (Toronto Pearson). And right now the airfare is cheaper than Air Canada (though both are still higher than usual, so wait a bit to book).

A couple of drawbacks...
1. They'll fly LA--> Toronto and back - but not between New York/Toronto or Boston/Toronto. Sorry East Coast family and friends.

2. Only one non-stop flight and one connecting flight per day. So you've gotta have faith that there won't be cancellations.

But otherwise - sweet! I'd recommend using Kayak to check for the lowest priced airfare when booking your flight to Toronto, but definitely check out Virgin America. Toronto

Susur Lee - Toronto's Top Chef?

We've been slacking hard-core on this blogging. Jon's been busy finishing up law school and I've been traveling up and down the state of California for work (can you locate Visalia on a map?). But the good news is that all our down time that has not been spent updating this blog has gone into ensuring that you will have a rockin' good time at our wedding. And now that our invitations are printed, addressed, stamped, and just waiting to be mailed out (next week, perhaps), we should be able to shift some of our attention to this currently unloved blog.

Jon and I are hella (word I picked up in San Francisco) obsessed with Top Chef. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it's like Project Runway but with cooking. And when a chef hella impresses us, we try to visit their restaurant while in their city.

Such as Jamie Lauren's Absinthe in San Francisco.



Or Ludo LeFebvre's Ludo Bites right here in Los Angeles.



(Jon's foie gras beignet. Minus a picture of Jon.)

Right now, Bravo's airing Top Chef Masters, which pits recognized - verging on celebrity - chefs (as opposed to their sous chefs) against each other to compete for their charity of choice. And you know who won this past week's episode? Toronto's Susur Lee.

I first heard of Susur during an hour-long special on Food Network. He has a sort of has an east-meets-west philosophy to food. His first restaurant in Toronto was a twelve-table joint called Lotus. Now he operates Lee, a tapas-style restaurant, near King and Bathurst. And coming in June, his former space Susur will host a new concept restaurant called Madeline's (literally next door to Lee). Both of these spots are super-easy to get to by TTC - just a short walk from the St. Andrew's station. You better believe that Jon & I plan to visit one of these digs while we're up in the T dot.

To make a reservation for either call 416.504.7867. In the meantime, we'll be rooting for Susur on the little screen.

Choose Your Own Adventure: Niagara Falls

Who didn't watch The Office wedding?  Even if you haven't check out their wedding website - it's pretty killer.  And if you have, please note that we will not be walking down the aisle doing this:

Which is really just a copy of this:

But for those of you in the know, The Office wedding took place in Niagara Falls, a mere 1.5 hours from Toronto.  And as Jim & Pam's website shows, there are quite a lot of things to do there - like checking out the Aquarium of Niagara or Souvenir City.  

But in all seriousness, Niagara Falls is definitely day-trip worthy.  The Maid of the Mist is even cooler on the Canadian side, and there are plenty of Niagara wineries that are known for Canadian Ice Wine.  Check out this website for a directory of wineries and restaurants, which can class up any trip that started with some rounds of roulette at the Seneca Casino.  

If you're going to Niagara Falls from Toronto, you may want to rent a car for the day.  Discount Car has a rental location at Yonge Street & Charles Street, which is just a stone's throw away from the Marriott.  

Choose Your Own Adventure: Yonge & St. Clair/Forest Hill

These midtown neighborhoods have a special place in Jon's heart, having spent many years attending middle and high school in this area. That's right, Upper Canada College, the oldest secondary school in Canada has Jonathan Faria as one of its alumni. If you're in the area on a nice day, check out the lush grounds and stunning architecture at UCC.

UCC is located in Forest Hill, one of Toronto's poshest neighborhoods.  A bit west of Yonge Street, Forest Hill is home to some of Toronto's most famous families - including the founders of Second Cup.  Forest Hill used to be its own incorporated village before being annexed by Toronto (see some parallels between FH and Beverly Hills?) and still has a cute village strip.  You can visit boutique shops and classy restaurants along Eglinton Avenue near Bathurst Street.

East of Forest Hill (and close to the wedding venue) is the Yonge & St. Clair neighborhood.  This is one of the business hubs of midtown Toronto.  There are plenty of bars and restaurants dotting Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue, and you can hop aboard the St. Clair Streetcar - which recently received its own dedicated lane.  

Bar: Scallywags (11 St. Clair Avenue West).  A popular haunt among the UCC crowd, try to get a spot on the upper level.

Restaurant (Casual): Sprout (15 St. Clair Avenue West).  Try fresh and tasty Vietnamese fare at this lunch-only joint.  

Restaurant (Fancy): Sette Mezzo (936 Eglinton Avenue West).  Upscale Italian cuisine in the tony Forest Hill Village.

Shopping: Bead Cafe (970 Eglinton Avenue West).  Crafty folks can enjoy making their own jewelry or selecting from an assortment of beads and notions at this Forest Hill Village shop.

Yonge & St. Clair

UCC

Choose Your Own Adventure: Financial District/Harbourfront

There's plenty to do in downtown Toronto near the Financial District and Harbourfront.  For example, you can visit the CN Tower, which until recently was the tallest free-standing structure in the world.  Or check out a Blue Jays game at the Skydome.  If you're there at night, you can get your laughs at Second City.  Whatever you fancy, you can probably find it in the area.

The Harbourfront, as we mentioned in our previous post, is definitely up and coming.  In addition to the Spadina WaveDeck, WATERFRONToronto has also completed the Simcoe and Rees WaveDecks too, allowing for additional public spaces along the waterfront.  

Bar: Harbour Sports Grill (10 Yonge Street).  Come here for the beer, sports, and ribs.

Restaurant (Casual):  Il Fornello (207 Queens Quay West).  Enjoy the pizzas that Barbara Streisand called "best in Toronto" at this classy yet casual Italian joint.

Restaurant (Fancy): Canoe (66 Wellington Street West).  Considered one of the top restaurants in Canada, you can enjoy French food at this upscale location.

Entertainment:  Second City (51 Mercer Street).  Your sides will be aching after checking out this sketch-comedy troupe.

Choose Your Own Adventure: Yonge & Dundas/Eaton Centre

The next neighborhood that we'll explore is the Yonge & Dundas/Eaton Centre area.  

We've realized that we haven't fully explained this whole "Choose Your Own Adventure" concept.  Basically, Toronto is considered a city of neighborhoods, and is an extremely diverse city, so by spending some free time going off exploring you can see all of the different architecture, cultures, cuisine, and landmarks.  

Well, this area is not exactly a prime example of Toronto's "neighborhoods" but we've been stuck in a bit of a hipster rut so we figured that it would be refreshing to add in a more conventional area.  We mentioned the Yonge-Dundas Square in our previous post.  This is a public square that was developed, in part, as an attempt to have Toronto's own version of Times Square or Piccadilly Circus.  While the scale of Times Square has not been achieved (thank goodness, since this area is far more palatable!), this is where you'll find neon and billboards, as evidenced in the previous entry's photo.  There are also cool fountains in the square (the water is drinkable - don't be shy) and plenty of music/festivals/events that take place during the summer.  The Canon Theatre is located just east of Yonge-Dundas Square, and features performances from national tours... this year's lineup includes Rent, Mama Mia, and Fiddler on the Roof.  And, if you're in town before August 8, you can check out Legally Blonde the musical - quite apropos since it will be running during the time Jon writes the Bar Exam. 

On the west side of Yonge Street is the Eaton Centre.  This is a giant mall, full of a wide variety of retailers and restaurants.  And on the southern extent of it (Queen Street) stands the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatres, two other major live theatre houses.  If you prefer to listen to jazz or live music, you can check out Massey Hall, located on Victoria Street.

There's quite a lot of street traffic in this area, so you can enjoy the downtown bustle on the sidewalks - and a sweet pedestrian scramble at the intersection of Yonge Street & Dundas Street.  Check out some live entertainment, shop til you drop, and check out the plethora of restaurants (note: if you're looking for national chains, you'll find all of them here).  Just take the Yonge Street line to either Dundas Street or Queen Street and you're right in the center of all the action!

Bar: Jack Astors (10 Dundas Street East).  This is a chain of bars/restaurants.  They have plenty of beers and mixed drinks, and some decent food (Jon has a soft spot for their calzones).  Plus they give you crayons to draw on the tables with!

Restaurant (Casual): Eggspectation (Eaton Center, 220 Yonge Street).  This casual diner-type restaurant offers a wide variety of breakfast and lunch items.  

Restaurant (Fancy): Osteria Ciceri e Tria (106 Victoria Street).  If you're heading to the theatre or on a date night, check out this dressy Italian restaurant.  Instead of one large dish, you order several small ones (including their five daily antipasti), and pasta is handmade.  

Shopping: Eaton Centre (220 Yonge Street).  Huge shopping mall - you'll find pretty much every retailer that you can think of here.  Check out the windows at the Hudson's Bay Company.

Choose Your Own Adventure: Kensington Market

Kensington Market - south of the Annex - is another "hip" area in Toronto.  At one point a Jewish neighborhood, the area is now home to eclectic shops, boutiques, and plenty of places to eat.  The eastern border of Kensington Market is Chinatown (which runs primarily along Dundas Street heading eastbound).  Kensington Market also hosts Pedestrian Sundays on the last Sunday of each month between May & October, when the streets are closed to vehicular traffic.

Kensington Market & Chinatown are fun places to walk around, and the sidewalks are always bustling.  Check out the vintage clothing shops in Kensington before going for some bubble tea or dim sum in Chinatown.

To get there from Bloor Street, you can cut through the UofT campus, to the southwest corner (College & Spadina) and then head a bit further west to Augusta Avenue.  If transit is your thing, take the Bloor line westbound to Spadina, followed by the Spadina streetcar southbound to College Street or Dundas Street.  You will be transferring to the streetcar line within the station, so no need to get a transfer.

Here are some of our favorite places in Kensington Market:

Bar: Sneaky Dee's (431 College Street).  They serve food (brunch, lunch & dinner), so it's not a straight-up pub, but they do have a well-stocked bar and live music to boot.

Restaurant (Casual): Free Times Cafe (320 College Street).  Non-kosher, but plenty of Jewish-style food on the menu.  Their Sunday brunch includes staples like lox, latkes, and challah... in addition to live klezmer music.  They also have tasty Middle Eastern food.  

Restaurant (Fancy): La Palette (256 Augusta Avenue).  Fresh, seasonal French food with a great wine selection.  And unlike most French restaurants, you can find veggie-friendly food here.

Shopping: Bungalow (273 Augusta Avenue).  Great vintage wares and sometimes at even better prices.  While in college, we found extra-long hand-knit scarves here for $5 apiece.  

Pedestrian Sundays

Kensington Market

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Annex

The Annex is on the western side of the UofT campus.  It is known for having lots of local shops and restaurants, and a bit of an "artsy" feel.  Because of its proximity to the university and its heavy student population, you can get really good deals here.  Plus, the Annex used to be home to Jane Jacobs, urbanist extraordinaire!

The Annex is about a 10 minute walk westbound on Bloor Street from the Intercontinental, and 15-20 minutes from the Marriott.  If you prefer to take transit, take the Bloor line westbound at either St. George, Bay, or Bloor-Yonge to Spadina or Bathurst Stations.

Along Bloor Street you'll find many small storefronts.  There are bicycle shops, organic/eco-friendly stores, and plenty of specialty food stores.  Get a falafel at Ghazale (504 Bloor Street West) before catching an off-beat flick next door at Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West) and treat yourself to locally-made ice cream at Greg's (750 Spadina Avenue) or a giant slice of cake at Future Bakery (483 Bloor Street West).

Though there aren't any major attractions in the Annex, it's a really fun place to just walk around and explore city life.

Here are some of our favorite spots in the Annex:

Bar: The Green Room (296 Brunswick Avenue).  This low-key dive-y bar is dimly lit with strings of christmas lights, and furnished with old sofas.  Drinks are decently priced and food is very cheap with plenty of veggie options.  Little known fact: scenes of the movie "Jumper" were filmed here.

Restaurant (Casual): Flip, Toss & Thai (141 Harbord Street).  This Thai takeout place is a hole-in-the-wall.  You can sit on the few picnic tables/chairs, but you'll likely want to take your food to go.  Still, this place is worth a visit for awesome pad thai and other specialties.  And when they ask you how spicy you want your food and you say "very" - stick to 2 peppers or fewer.

Restaurant (Fancy): Southern Accent (595 Markham Street).  Not too fancy, but on the higher end of the Annex.  New Orleans themed "southern, cajun, soul" restaurant, they brought some decent flavors up north.  And they occasionally have a tarot card reader available at the entrance.

Shopping: Honest Ed's (581 Bloor Street West).  Ed Mirvish - who was well known in Toronto for his theatres - opened and ran this landmark discount store until his death in 2007.  This store spans a full avenue block and the exterior is covered in corny sayings and garish decor.  While you may not find anything that you need, it's still a "must visit."  As their sign proclaims "only the floors are crooked."

The Annex

Honest Ed's

Choose Your Own Adventure: Yorkville

For our first "Choose Your Own Adventure" column, we'll start local.  Yorkville is near both the Marriott and Intercontinental.  It was a hippie haven in the 60s, but is now home to some of the most upscale shopping.  

The basic boundaries of Yorkville are Bloor Street to the south, Davenport Road to the north, Avenue Road to the west and Yonge Street to the east.  

Bloor Street has many pricey chain retailers, such as Tiffany's, Rolex, LuluLemon, Roots, and Holt Renfrew (Canada's Saks Fifth Avenue).  If it's too hot or rainy, you can seek refuge in one of the indoor shopping arcades, such as the Manulife Centre or Holt Renfrew Centre.  Many of these arcades are connected at the cellar level, so you can travel along Bloor Street between Bay Street and Yonge Street underground!

North of Bloor Street, the blocks are smaller and most of the shopping is boutique-y, with vintage stores, galleries, and places to spoil your dog.  You can window-shop here to your heart's content.  There are also many nice restaurants and several pubs/clubs in this area.

The Village of Yorkville Park, located on Cumberland Street is a really great example of an urban parkette.  If it's sunny, eat out here or just hang out on the giant rock.  

Here are some of our favorite locations in Yorkville:

Bar: Hemingways (142 Cumberland Street).  Really chill, decent bar food, and a rooftop patio.

Restaurant (Casual): Eggstasy (1255 Bay Street).  Great breakfast spot with plenty of egg options - plus you get to pick your own sides!

Restaurant (Fancy): Sassafraz (100 Cumberland Street).  Okay, we've never eaten here as it's REALLY fancy and expensive.  But it's a Toronto landmark.  Great for a big splurge.

Shopping: Roots (100 Bloor Street West).  Most of their clothing is either athletic wear or lounge wear.  Kind of pricey because it's sweatshop-free, but they have great sales.  And you can return to the States with a snazzy "Roots Canada" hoodie from their flagship store.

Boutiques in Yorkville.

Village of Yorkville Park.

Another picture of the park.

Cumberland Street, including Sassafraz (Yellow Building).

Get to know the TTC

For those of you coming from out-of-town, here's a primer on the TTC.  This is the public transportation system in Toronto, and we think it's a pretty good one.  Yes, the subway system isn't nearly as comprehensive as New York's.  However, it's clean, reliable, and there are streetcars too!

A ride on the TTC is $2.75 CAD.  If you're going to be taking more than 3 trips - or are traveling with others on a weekend - we suggest the $9 day pass.  On Saturdays and Sundays, that one pass will provide unlimited public transportation for up to 2 adults and 4 children.  Pretty good deal, eh?

The subway system (see image below) is basically a big loop (Yonge/University/Spadina line) with a line across (Bloor/Danforth line) and a pretty much unused line (Sheppard) along the top.  The "host hotels" both have easy access to the Yonge/University/Spadina line and the Bloor/Danforth line.  These two subway lines will get you to all of the major tourist destinations - downtown, nightlife area, theatre district, CN Tower, and some hip neighborhoods (Annex, the Danforth).  In the downtown area (even where the hotels are), there isn't much distance between the "University/Spadina" part of the loop and the "Yonge" part - maybe a 10 minute walk, tops.  So if you're on Bloor Street or south, it may be more useful to just walk to the station that's a bit further rather than looping around the south part to head north (i.e., getting on southbound at St. George to head northbound to St. Clair).

As you can probably tell, there isn't much in the way of east-west subway coverage.  However, there are many east-west streetcars - pretty much along every major east-west roadway.  In some cases (like St. Clair Avenue) there is a designated streetcar lane, so the transit service is still speedy.

There are also plenty of bus lines... unfortunately we don't know too much about them, since the subway and street car have always been sufficient for us!

As we continue to blog, we'll include information about great areas and attractions to check out and how to get there.  By the time you arrive in Toronto, you'll be a pro on navigating the TTC!

And - just a nuance - most of the stations have a station operator (where you can pay in person or just flash your day pass).  However, the Bay Street station, located equidistant from the Marriott and Intercontinental, does not have an operator, so you can only get through using tokens.

Toronto's subway map. For an interactive map, click here.

Don't forget your passport!

For those of you coming from the States, just remember to have a valid passport.  Up until a couple of years ago, a driver's license was enough to get you to Canada, but now they require a passport.

Also, our best man Dan has confirmed that you can, indeed, rent a car in Buffalo and drive across the border.  This is a good option only if the flights to Canada are uber-expensive.  We've found the fares to be comparable if you book at least a month in advance, but if you're looking for a last minute flight then Buffalo is cheaper.  Even if you drive across the border... don't forget your passport!

Toronto: How to Get There

We realize that a lot of you will be coming to our wedding from outside of Toronto, so we wanted to provide some information about how to get to the City. Luckily, Toronto is a major Canadian city, so there are many transportation options.

There are 2 airports in Toronto - Toronto Pearson International Airport and Toronto Centre City Airport.

Pearson Airport is the major airport in Toronto, and is located a little west of the City in Mississauga. Most large airlines (Air Canada, American, Delta, United, etc.) fly into Pearson. A flight from New York is about an hour long, and a flight from California is about 4-5 hours long. Customs is done at Pearson. There is public transportation (a bus to the subway) from the airport and a cab would cost about $50CAD to the downtown hotels. There are car rentals available at Pearson.

City Centre Airport is a small airport located just south of downtown Toronto on one of the islands. Porter Air is the only commercial airline that flies into City Centre - there are flights from Boston, Montreal, New York, and other regional locations. From the airport, Porter supplies a free ferry every 15 minutes that will drop you off near Union Station in downtown. Union Station has a subway stop, and a cab would cost about $10-15 to the host hotels.

If you insist on flying Jet Blue or Southwest, you can fly into Buffalo International Airport, which is about 2 hours from Toronto - not including time spent at the border. You can rent cars there, but we're not sure whether you can take the car up to Canada (we'll investigate that further). 

Generally speaking, if you book a month or more in advance, you can get pretty good fares to Canada. If you're coming from New York City or upstate New York and don't want to fly, there is an Amtrak train that travels between Penn Station and Toronto Union Station with several stops in upstate. The train usually costs $80-90 each way and takes about 13 hours between NYC and Toronto. 

VIA rail provides service throughout Canada. A train between Montreal and Toronto will take about 5 hours.

If you have any questions about travelling to Toronto, please feel free to contact us and we'll do our best to help!